Stratos
Stratos is a Keyblade Master and active protagonist in Kingdom Hearts SOS. Biography 'Rennshalt' A long time ago, before Stratos's time, there existed a world bathed in nothing but light. A pure and clean utopia, exempt from any of the woes that happened in the outside worlds. A world where darkness was unheard, the ever present sun never giving way to any form of night sky. This beautiful world was known as Rennshalt. During this age of great prosperity, a simple wanderer had appeared onto the world. An outsider by the name of Noir, that no one could make sense of. Not understanding that travel between worlds was possible in the first place, the people of Rennshalt were equally part curious as they were concerned about this man. While he did not seem to do much but rest in a singular solitary spot, it did not relieve the unease of the people. Their unease was only vindicated a week or so after his arrival. From seemingly nowhere, darkness started to spill forth into the world. A tide of heartless that swarmed with the single intent of devouring this wanderer. While they had never succeeded in doing so, and eventually even made to skulk around him as opposed to full frontal assaults, the consequences of this were plain to see to all the residents of Rennshalt. The darkness had ravaged the area surrounding Noir, and due to Noir's continued existence it started to nest around the rest of the world. The denizens of Rennshalt could not do much but fight against this darkness to merely survive. During this time, the denizens were pushed to the brink, forced to live in ruined shells of old cities and makeshift towns. The ever present sun had been in an unending war against an all consuming darkness trying to devour it and heartless freely roamed the lands. As if to revolt against this invading darkness, the light of the world started to coallesce into its own physical form, the soulbourne. With the creatures of light and darkness constantly trying to destroy each other, giving little regards to the surrounding denizens, the world was only damaged more than it already was. This was the Rennshalt that Stratos was born into. Early Life Stratos Jern, born in the village of Himmel, was never someone to stick out amongst the rest of his people. He wasn't born with any great physical talents, being weaker than most people his age. He wasn't any bit smarter than people. He didn't have as much endurance. As a result, the boy mostly stuck to himself, doing only one simple thing. Observing. It wasn't until the boy was nine years of age that he made his first friend. One day, when merely sitting outside by himself as he usually did, a boy who was a few years older by the name of Meso invited the kid to go hang out with the rest of his friends, since they were playing their own games. Stratos wasn't sure why Meso had decided to talk to him then, but he simply followed along anyway. While at first the boy didn't really fit in with the rest of the group, the rest of them wondering why he was invited as well, due to his naturally non confrontational and friendly demeanor, he integrated into the group well. From there, he became a part of Meso's group, becoming friends with Tro, a silent but stable girl, Pheera, Meso's sister, Ther, the cautious one, and Exos, the comedic one. The group became rather infamous within Himmel, often having their own little adventures and games throughout the village, or sometimes sneaking out of the village. With Meso as the leader, the group seemed to get themselves into all kinds of trouble, yet still make it out just fine. Stratos was content with these times, always looking up to Meso as both an older brother and role model kind of figure, wanting to see what he would do next and almost always following his lead. These peaceful years continued on until Stratos was fifteen years old. The group had left the village to go explore the outside world, as they did occasionally. The group stumbled upon a group of merchants from another village that were being attacked by wayward heartless. It was clear that they were losing to them, and thus Meso had suggested the group go and aid them. While they were in no way geared for combat, they couldn't really say no to the wild eyed Meso and thus charged in to save the merchants. The group had all charged in, with only Stratos and Pheera looking on from the sidelines watching as the other four attempted to help the merchants. The fight was similarly one sided, and the group was unable to do anything to make the situation any better. As Stratos and Pheera stood by in horror, as their friends were essentially being mauled by monsters, the boy could no longer just watch. Without much of a plan and on instinct, Stratos ran to aid his friends against the heartless, getting to them and striking at them. While Stratos had only intended to punch something, in an explosive flash of light, there in his hands was a giant key shaped object that completely cleaved into the dark creature. Unsure of what was going on, Stratos simply looked at the keyblade in confusion. Yet seeing it as a way to help his friends, Stratos simply fought the heartless, of which he had garnered the attention of at this point. Prelude to SOS While Stratos had managed to fight off the heartless, it was not without loss and injury. All of the kids from Himmel, bar Pheera, had been injured a good deal and the merchants had been killed. Feeling a bit defeated, the kids walked back, though not without first bombarding Stratos with questions about his new found weapon. While Stratos had no idea what it was or why it was on his person, everyone seemed to be in awe of it. Trying to give it to the others, the weapon seemed intent on staying on Stratos's person, and the group decided that they'd see if any of the adults knew anything about it. After returning, getting their wounds taken care to and explaining what had happened, Stratos presented his mysterious new weapon trying to get some answers on it. While no one had actually known what it was, Lith, Meso's father, had realized that it must've been some kind of special weapon unique to Stratos. The townspeople then had decided that Stratos must've been something special and destined to protect them, with a good deal of the town's guards asking for him to help. While Stratos was incredibly reluctant to do so, he had decided to help out around town. From then, Stratos was a lot more busy and forced to do quite a bit more work in dealing with any heartless that came to attack the village. While he was much better equipped to deal with them than any of the other people in the village, his success in stopping them was still far below most others. Furthermore, with more guarding, Stratos was able to hang out with his friends even less. During this time, Meso had grown to be far more hostile towards Stratos, not really involving him when they would be to have free time together, and the acts that he and his gang got into seemed far more risky and dangerous than before. The group had slowly started drifting away from him until one day had hit. Over the course of a night, Exos had gone missing, vanished without a trace. At first, not knowing what happened, they blamed the heartless for the disappearance, causing Stratos to fall into a bit of a despair from failing to keep him safe. Meanwhile, Meso had started to become obsessed with what had happened to him and saving Exos. A day or so after his disappearance, Stratos was approached by Pheera, her having told him that Meso and the rest of the group had gone to the Chasm. The Chasm was a place rumored to be where the heartless took people to after they attacked them, and so thinking this, Meso had resolved that Exos must've been there. Terrified at first, Stratos refused, only to be urged into from further pressing from Pheera. And so, going to the Chasm, the boy traversed it, trying his best to fend of the heartless all the way. When he had found the gang, Meso had already been knocked out with Tro and Ther injured and trying to fend them off. With great effort, Stratos managed to help all of them out of the Chasm and get back town, though the damage had been done. Upon getting back, the adults seemed to be in horror of what had happened. Ltih, seeing his son in a comma, had resolved that something needed to be done about the world they were in. There were stories of a man that had caused the ruin of their world, and that it was his continued existence that kept the world the way it was. The man was rumored to be close enough to their village, and thinking that he could see if there was truth to this story, he left the village in search of the man. Lith did not return. A few days after this had happened, Meso awoke, wondering what had happened. Upon being told, he asked of Stratos to go see what had happened to his father and feeling both guilty and pressured, Stratos accepted. Taking a long trek through the world of Rennshalt, Stratos followed the rumors that Lith did in order to eventually come across a ruined structure. Standing in a field of ruined weapons and bodies, there was a man, all too serene in composure and completely out of place with the rest of the area. Seeing the boy, the man introduced himself as Noir, asking the boy what he was here for. Upon learning that Stratos had come to look for Lith, the man motioned to the more recent looking corpse, to which Stratos could easily identify. Being mixed with both fear and anger, the boy drew his keyblade, seeming ready to attack. When Noir questioned if he were going to attack, though, Stratos found himself unable to move. Frozen in fear by this imposing and terrifying presence, Stratos could only stand. Noir told the boy that fighting him would do no good, and that he was at the starting line of a much grander journey than just Rennshalt. Upon telling the boy to run from this starting line, Stratos dashed as fast and as far as he could from the area. Feeling ashamed and afraid, Stratos could not bring himself to go back to Himmel. And instead he wondered the world for a few days, aimlessly. It was only when a letter appeared before him, from seemingly nowhere, that Stratos felt a renewed sense of vigor. Seeing this letter, Stratos felt both a chance to do good again and a place to escape his failures of the past. And so without much of a second thought, he left Rennshalt, going to join the crew of SOS. Story To be filled in later Personality Prior to the events of SOS and during his time on Rennshalt, Stratos was a rather timid and none too confident of a person. He generally tried his best to not stick out and never really voiced an opinion if he had one. He had believed that most everyone around him was just better than him, and thus was largely unmotivated to make him self better and any more than he was. While this only slightly changed once he actually got a hold of his keyblade, he constantly wished for nothing more than to be rid of it and go back to his life before hand. After leaving his home world Stratos attempted to reinvent himself, still not trying to stick out but instead trying to not be afraid to fight. Despite this he still harbored an inferiority complex and contempt for himself, believing most everyone to be better than him in all regards. After going through his home world, Stratos found new resolve in trying to become a better person. Still thinking others were still greater than him, he resolved to take what made them amazing and turn into something uniquely his. From then on he has become more critical about other's issues, but still is friendly and down to earth enough to not be too abrasive about it. Appearance Since becoming a master, Stratos achieved his most recent outfit. Sporting a short sleeve black jacket with a hood, Stratos is also seen wearing a white shirt with purple stripes near the collar and a pair of tan cargo pants. To keep his long bangs out of his face, he now wears hair clips in the front. Since obtaining his aura as well, Stratos's usually golden eyes turned Fuchsia to match his new Aura's color. Like most people, when Stratos changes jobs his appearance changes to match it as well. It can range from anywhere to a simple color change with slight additions to his outfit, to his outfit more changing shape and material to match. In addition, Stratos's keyblade, generally assumed to be Synchronous Gale, always shift to a specific form in order to match the form's weapon. Lastly, the gold and green trimmings on the blade usually change color as well, to match the job's. When in Soldier form, Stratos's jacket and the stripes of his shirt become a dark red color. An insignia of a blade appears over the back of his jacket, and he gains black half gauntlets with red trimmings. The gold and green of his keyblade become differing shades of red, as the blade loses its teeth, and the shaft becomes sharper and more angular to become more like an actual longsword. Where the blade meets the hilt guard there's a ruby crystal. When in Black Mage form, Stratos's jacket and shirt stripes become a dark blue color. An insignia of a staff appears over the back of his jacket, and his hood becomes deeper and ends more in a point. The trimming on his blade became different shades of blue, and instead of the normal shape, his keyblade becomes an ebony looking staff with a sapphire crystal at the top of it. When in White Mage form, Stratos's jacket and shirt stripes take on a light green color. An insiginia of a shield appears across the back of his jacket. The gold and green of the keyblade becomes a lighter green, as the blade itself morphs itself into a shield. The shield is the same black as the rest of the keyblade, with green trimmings around the edge of the shield and an emerald crystal is formed in the center of it. While in Ninja form, Stratos's jacket and shirt stripes become a yellow color. An insignia of a spear appears over the back of his jacket. The gold and green of his keyblade becomes a yellow color. The keyblade loses its teeth and becomes a more short, curved blade with a topaz in the center of the blade. In addition to this, a second copy of this keyblade appears in Stratos's hand. While in Monk form, Stratos's jacket becomes green, and becomes zipped up. His pants become gray sweat pants and his hands gain black cestus with red trimmings. An insignia of a fist appears over the back of his jacket. While in Ranger form, Stratos's jacket and pants become a more muted gray and covered in camo print. His jacket closes and becomes more long-sleeved, covering the entirety of his arms, as he also gains gloves. An insignia of a bow appears over the back of his jacket. His keyblade forms into the shape of a bow, with the gold and green trimmings instead becoming an ever-flowing current of red, blue and yellow. In addition, the bow string is made of the same kind of current of energy, and forms its own arrows when he pulls back on the string. While in Summoner form, Stratos's jacket becomes light blue in coloration. The jacket itself becomes more of a long robe that covers his whole body. An insignia that looks to be a mesh of fire, lightning and ice appears across the back of his robe. This form does not have a keyblade. While in Red Mage form, Stratos's jacket becomes a lighter purple color. An insignia in the shape of a red and blue yin-yang appears across the back of his jacket. While in this form the gold and green of the keyblade becomes red, but the shape of the weapon does not change. Instead, he gains a second version of synchronous gale, only white with blue trimmings across it. Stats Abilities Skills Skills and Limits that are '''BOLD '''are equipped. Jobs # Black Mage # Ranger # White Mage # Soldier # Ninja # Summoner # Monk # Red Mage # Paladin (Equipped) Auras * Sound (2) * Gravity (1) * Darkness (1) Equipment Keyblades #Synchronous Gale #Oathkeeper (3 year) #Unbound +9 (Equipped) #Blessed Thief #Ferris Gear #Spell Binder #Star Seeker #Counterpoint #Skull Noise #Guardian Bell #Photon Debugger #Lion Heart Accessories *Apprentice Sash *Ray of Light *Mystic Chain *Moogle Badge *SOS Ring (Equipped) Item * Ether (Equipped) * Balloon Letter * Hi-Ether (Equipped) * Item Ticket * Job Ticket Trivia *Starting during the Mim fight in the world Camelot, Stratos starts creating a spell chant for each magic and limit that he uses. The ones that currently exist are as follows: **Blizzard: "Oh chilled air create a shard to pierce my enemy through." **Mine Square: "Oh earthen forces, set those that would trample you ablaze." **Trip Around the Sun: "You who would desecrate the land of the golden sword, with my advent, I, a keyblade wielder, lay waste with the Unbound, and expel thy vast defilement!" *The Trip Around the Sun chant actually has a different chant depending on which world Stratos is currently in and which keyblade he is using. Category:Characters Category:Active